Generations united by social cause

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO 
Two generations of leaders who embrace social justice and cultural diversity came together yesterday to honor United Farm Workers founder César Chávez. One generation wants to make a difference. The other generation has made a difference.

Breanna McKinley, 17, an 11th-grader at Francis Parker High School, said it is the obligation of her generation to perpetuate the values that burned within Chávez.

“We have to take our place in this world and we have to make this world a better place,” said McKinley, one of the winners of the Chávez essay contest sponsored by the San Diego César E. Chávez Commemoration Committee.

Dolores Huerta, a co-founder with Chávez of the United Farm Workers, said past accomplishments are not enough. They are a foundation.

“We celebrate César's accomplishments but it's time now for a rejuvenation. Let there be a call to action to do the work that needs to be done.”

McKinley and Huerta were part of the 11th annual César E. Chávez Commemorative Breakfast attended by more than 1,000 people, including political, labor and education leaders, at the San Diego Convention Center. The event was one of several this month to mark the labor leader's birthday, which is today.

Huerta acknowledged Chávez and his life of civic activism and praised him for his vision and commitment.

But there needs to be more done to improve education, make health care affordable and available to everybody, and to ensure that wages are not just enough for people to squeak by on, but high enough for comfortable lives, Huerta said.

With a new administration in Washington, Huerta said now is the perfect time to pick up the baton of activism.

From the lettuce fields in Imperial County to the halls of Congress in Washington, it's time again for voices to be heard, she said.

“You have a real democracy when people participate,” Huerta said.

“America was built on a strong middle class. If we do not have a strong middle class, we do not have a democracy.”

While McKinley has little of Huerta's life experience, she said she understands the power that people can wield.

There is a ripple effect when the disenfranchised are empowered, she said. “If I and other young people each help one person do more with their lives and they help another person, a powerful force is formed,” she said.

It's not enough that people like Chávez and Huerta have marched and organized in the name of worker rights, she said.